


Blood Temperature

by niosism



Category: Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25436515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niosism/pseuds/niosism
Summary: It’s crazy to think this is the same troll that goes up on stage and thoroughly insults the Condesce’s name every chance he gets. She respects Xefros a lot for that.
Relationships: Xefros Tritoh/Chixie Roixmr
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Blood Temperature

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [ **this art** ](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/23/7a/d8/237ad8daa68224f703cbba90f1f8ffec.jpg)  
> by [ **cat-green on tumblr** ](https://cat-green.tumblr.com/)  
> 

Chixie Roixmr has been gaining an unprecedented amount of popularity lately. 

Well, she’s not sure she would even call it _hers_ to begin with, not _Chixie Roixmr_ , but someone who is does not have a name or a face. Her blessing and her curse; the Masked Bronzeblood Rapper. She’s seen people throw around weirder names online so sticking with the obvious for now sounds good for her. It’s not that she doesn’t like any of the names she’s seen! Well, actually, maybe one or two that makes her eyes twitch just a tad, _just another rebel scum, lowblood trash,_ just a typical day for an ordinary bronzeblood artist, or any lowblood, if she’s honest. 

Who’s going to tell her who she is? She writes that down, even if she doesn’t really believe it because that’s what indigos and violets seem to like doing the most. Why is she even thinking about this? Music! She thinks. It’s to fuel the flames of rebellion and not to make her feel even worse as a lowblood, in her chosen path, that is not very much chosen at all considering all the shit she had to do for Zebruh and other highbloods to get to where she is. _She is there out of favors._

What the fuck, and now she’s angry. Her fingers press harshly into the body of her pencil, which vibrates in her grasp. She feels a bead of sweat on her forehead, and doesn’t bother wiping it away, just continues to write, and write, and write. Man, this shit better get more attention than her latest music has been getting so far. It’s like after a big achievement, everything else is starting to go downhill. That’s not how it usually goes on TV, she thinks, but the ones anyone has a chance to look up to on screen are all highbloods anyway. 

She had such an intense rush of inspiration after her crazy feat of clambering up on stage in the middle of that highblood band singing her song and telling them to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! That she was sure this was going to be her big break! If no one can tell who she is from her mask, she thought at the time, then her sheer talent could make up for it! Turns out that was what she tried telling herself in a tizzy, tipsy with the euphoria of finally being HEARD. 

She swears it’s the highbloods rigging her system, like they always are anyways, but this time it’s perpetual harassment. She knows that they know, and she’s scared, but also mildly relieved at the same time to be known throughout a few underground music communities. Whatever, if she’s going to go down, better this way than any other way. Besides, she’s met some amazing trolls and fans alike from that one JUST GRAB MY BULGE AND DEEPTHROAT IT! Including a friend she made then who helped her into that situation in the first place (she has a lot of gratitude for them, and an alien nonetheless!) and a troll whom she met after running offstage with sunglasses and a hoodie. This troll is in fact her friend now, Dammek (and Xefros, kind, gentle Xefros...). 

It’s like the scene has been tattooed into her brain, the entire night, really, she remembers it so vividly. 

_“You got any stuff online?”_

_. . ._

_“Well, you’re standing right outside the door. And you’re wearing the same clothes you did on stage, so…”_

_. . ._

_“Don’t worry about it. Plausible deniability, right? Catch you later.”_

She never would’ve thought she’d get a good taste of revolution, but with her alien friend and Dammek she can hold onto that rebellious experience and be able to call it her own through someone else’s eyes who was there to witness HER, not just as the Masked Bronzeblood Rapper. 

She’s just about done scribbling her feelings when her palmhusk rings and she answers the text, telling the troll on the other side of the line with similar-colored text as hers that she is ready to roll. So now she gets up and gets ready to _roll_ ; hanging with The Grubbles, as she usually does at least once a week because why the hell not, music is awesome and she loves to get hyped to it with some fellow lowbloods, especially with as much anti-royalist sentiment as Dammek and Xefros’ band. 

It’s not often that she finds herself a gig, as a lowblood she only ever gets things when no other highblood wants it, so she takes what she can get. And anyways, it’s even rarer to get money from them at all so the use of them is really just for fun and publicity, but if she wants to stay hanging on in this business, she needs to not only be ready, but feel ready. As it so happens, Dammek and Xefros need it just as much as she does, and so their little setup (friendship) pays off well. Artists help other artists. 

It’s not like Chixie needs to work to survive, but the monthly government stipend sent to all trolls on Alternia (but getting less and less the lower in the hemospectrum) is not enough to fuel her teenage desires. 

\---

Muffled screaming is never a good sign in Alternia, even in parties or events, especially in these crowded areas full of rowdy teenagers. As Chixie attended as many of these musical events as she could, she gradually became used to it (she would rarely go to crowded events before she became a musician), but it didn’t mean her skin didn’t crawl whenever she heard a particularly blood-curling wail in the distance, among the trolls, or just behind her. Unfortunately, she has a habit, or rather, a natural inclination, to anxiety and sweat, so she is also used to getting home from such events drenched in her own fluids, with her heart beating a mile a minute.

But this event is a lot nicer, a lot less anxiety-inducing, and smaller, with less people. It’s a lowblood-only event, and it’s taking place in Xefros’ hive, because as Dammek told her earlier, “Everyone would get lost in mine, and besides, it’s top-secret.” 

Chixie is standing by the door when Xefros spots her from where he is sitting across from her, seemingly keeping to himself despite a few trolls surrounding him, and trots over with a smile on his face.

XEFROS: hi chixie its so nice to see you X:)

His voice is a bit shakier than usual. Chixie knows Xefros is not a big fan of large groups of people, especially not compared to his moirail, and often seems to be dragged into these things by Dammek like some kind of trial for him to “get over” or “win” or “own” (she has heard Dammek oftentimes saying this to him). If she thought a lot about it, she would want to tell Xefros’ moirail not to be such a nooklicker, but anyways, it wasn’t any of her business, he was probably just trying to help or… something.

CHIXIE: xefros!

She hugs him as soon as he gets close enough for her to wrap her arms around his small form. Xefros is so tiny and cute and it makes her chest fill with warm affection… Wait. She shouldn’t be thinking that at all, it’s rude! Xefros is entirely capable of anything other trolls are capable of, she corrects herself. His bloodcaste has nothing to do with it! Isn’t it so hypocritical of her to be calling other lowbloods “small and cute” when she herself is one as well? Fuck. 

She asks him how he’s doing.

XEFROS: oh you know just chilling waiting for our turn

Chixie can’t help feeling extremely affectionate towards Xefros. Sometimes, she thinks she understands where Dammek is coming from, wanting to make him stronger for his own sake (it is for his sake, right?) but she knows how ridiculous it is to treat him the way he does. That is just not right. She has been as kind as she can be to him, but maybe that it also not the right approach. Maybe she should just be herself. 

CHIXIE: i can’t wait to hear you and dammek play / your music always gets me super inspired

Xefros laughs nervously. It’s crazy to think this is the same troll that goes up on stage and thoroughly insults the Condesce’s name every single time. Deep down, they’re all sick of her shit. Chixie thinks that is a big motivation to keep doing what they do. She respects Xefros a lot for that. 

\----

XEFROS: drop to your knees but come back up swingin 

XEFROS: not just a broom but the truth were slingin 

  
XEFROS: low and dirty 

  
XEFROS: show yall how to bring the hurt we have been hurt often 

  
XEFROS: about now I bet youre askin who are these punks 

  
XEFROS: or maybe you think we should fetch you a drink! 

  
XEFROS: well in a lowblood fashion you can suck my chitin chunk! 

  
XEFROS: dammek is bronze and burnished 

  
XEFROS: im just the rust 

  
XEFROS: try to test our mettle 

  
XEFROS: and when the dust settle 

  
XEFROS: your regret will be earnest 

  
XEFROS: and your blood spilled to stain 

  
XEFROS: the dust 

  
XEFROS: show yall how to bring the hurt we 

  
XEFROS: are by the highbloods 

  
XEFROS: blood boils 

  
XEFROS: blood boils 

It’s like a strike of lightning hitting her, splitting all that electric energy from her fingertips to the soles of her feet. She can’t even hear the lyrics properly, she’s not listening at all, just feeling the steady thumping of the beat, the drums, Xefros’ mechanical singing through a mic that turns his voice into a robot’s drawl. It’s like she has never seen anyone else in her entire life looking up at him on top of the table. Everyone is huddled against each other on the other side of the wall, some trolls sitting on the couches with their arms over their heads to keep any stray bodies from falling on top of them, she’s being pushed and shoved and fought over for the best view, and as catatonic as she is, they actually manage to shove her all the way back. 

All she can see now is Xefros not in front of her, but behind her eyelids. She can still see him there as he is singing another song, making big gestures with his hands like he owns the place, and this is all in her head, but she can see it, and he owns it. She feels his voice, his natural singing voice, brushing against her hair like the wind, and when she looks up she knows who he really is. Xefros is short and thin and soft, gorgeous wavy black hair that is thick and tousled, with a perfect smile and a pair of really nice eyebrows. Burgundy, she thinks. Beautiful, she thinks, and then she tiptoes and pushes herself up on a troll’s shoulders, her eyes meeting his, and her heart stops. 

She had never before allowed herself to really feel the energy around her when she was with him. It was all muddled by her own thoughts of “That’s rude!” or “What are you doing!” and it would drive her crazy all by itself. Why couldn’t she just be left alone with her natural train of thought? She felt lovely, good things for Xefros, so why did she always convince herself they were ugly, and bad instead? She wafts her anxiety with a hand like a bad stench, and it seems to dissipate before her eyes. When she opens them again, she sees rose and shades of deep, deep burgundy. It finally feels right.

The music has stopped at this point and everyone around her is clapping and hollering. She feels a bit woozy, a bit tipsy, a bit stricken, and a whole lot more flushed. The crowd is slowly spreading away as if to give her some space to breathe and feel less hot, but it doesn’t work like she had hoped. She forces her legs to move as well before someone asks her what is wrong, and they take her straight to him. 

Xefros’ head turns and their eyes meet again. His eyes are so dark it’s almost impossible to see the specks of brown in them, but they are so close to the lights she can see the deep chocolate, the cauldron that swirls within like a hypnotic spell, a little bit orange here, a tad bit red there, a bronze silk that goes around in circles, making her dizzy. There is throbbing behind that gaze, wavering, trembling with the adrenaline of his heavy breathing and beading forehead. His wet bangs cling to his forehead, an image she has seen many times over. 

It’s simple, really, how the energy from a simple gaze can burn through one’s soul and call out to them in a way that brings a troll to their knees to be overcome with live molten rock, to melt into it and be drawn closer and closer as if to say, “Melt me. Melt me entirely.” It is a chasm deeper than a black hole.

She holds her breath and sinks in deeper, forgetting where she is, who she is, what any of it means. She is orange all over, and can barely register how Xefros reacts with her like a mirror, a magic spell. 

She kisses him. A peck, and then her senses come back to her, the world around her comes back and falls on her like a million Three-toed Slothbeasts. She pulls away as if burned, because, if she’s honest, she has been thoroughly melting for a while now. 

Only then she realizes that she’s also sweating, and her face is as hot as she feels, and so is Xefros. His eyes are blown like saucers, his face flushed, his mouth parted like a codfish. Behind him, a glint of familiar shades props himself against a speaker and howls with laughter. 

An apology is at the tip of her tongue when she bites down on it. 

Xefros’ hand moves to brush her burning cheek, gentle and kind and warm like he’s always been. Everything his race isn’t. Everything she’s scared of being taken from him by the cruel royalists he sings about in his songs; and sometimes she wants to wear him as a skin and be him instead. Small, and kind, and brave, and beautiful. He leans in and smiles and whispers that he thinks her performance will be better than his own, like it always is, and she wants to cry at that, she wants to cry and tell him to see himself how she sees him.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen to The Grubbles' [ **Broom Temperature** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6OeTbSHLMM)  
> and give Xefros some respect.
> 
> hmu on [ **twitter!** ](https://twitter.com/tipsyTides)  
> 


End file.
